All things about Cars, Trucks & SUVs

[Ksyrup]

I can't get over the description of how you do anything INSIDE the car. Everything is through an app and swipes - no buttons, normal sticks to shift gears, turn on headlights, wipers, etc.

It's insane.

This isn't specifically a Tesla critique, but I've often wondered how we allow such obvious incompatible/competing ideas in this country as "we're loading every car we sell with more and more tech to distract drivers" and LE/governments running programs to stop/limit distracted driving. It's really weird.

[Edward64]

Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. agreed this week to build upon a preliminary deal first reached in March, offering more details of how they plan to work together and also adding Mitsubishi Motors Corp. to the mix. While the companies haven’t yet discussed a capital alliance, forming one is a possibility, Honda Chief Executive Officer Toshihiro Mibe said.

Nice. Honda has a better design team than Nissan. Hopefully the Z gen 2 will look less fugly

[Edward64]

I've been critical of Joe and Mayor Pete's implementation of chargers since the passage of the Infrastructure Bill (3 years ago). I mean, the money is there, the chargers are not, and therefore the only reason is the "process" which Mayor Pete is charged with executing.

So read below this morning and thought to myself, okay maybe I was wrong to be so critical.

EV charging gets another massive funding push from Biden administration - The Verge

The Biden administration says that the number of EV charging stations in the US has doubled since 2021 as it announces another round of grants for states looking to install more charging locations.

The administration claims that there are now over 192,000 publicly available charging ports in the US, with approximately 1,000 new public chargers being added each week. That’s up from approximately 100,000 ports that were in operation at the outset of 2021 when President Joe Biden first took office.

But then reading on ...

But the process has been slow going; in March, The Washington Post reported that only seven charging stations with 38 ports have been opened under the administration’s National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program.

I'm not sure I know the nuances behind the discrepancy of "doubling vs 38" but assume it's because of the commercial/private sector taking the initiative.

The money is there. All I want is a network of reliable, compatible fast charging stations every 30-50 miles across interstates and highways.

[Ksyrup]

I just read an article about a Cybertruck that caught fire in Texas after hitting a fire hydrant. It caught fire specifically because the battery was soaked by water from the hydrant, according to the article.

That sounds like something that shouldn't happen, right?

[stevew]

Saw a new electric Escalade tonight and that thing was super sharp looking.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I just read an article about a Cybertruck that caught fire in Texas after hitting a fire hydrant. It caught fire specifically because the battery was soaked by water from the hydrant, according to the article.

That sounds like something that shouldn't happen, right?

Much like all car companies needed to learn how to minimize the chance of the fuel tank catching fire in a crash, it appears that Tesla will need to learn how to minimize the chance of a battery catching fire when exposed to water (and, presumably, shorting out).

A while ago I read a description of Tesla as being a company that was still learning engineering lessons that were learned by the rest of the auto industry decades ago. So, this and other failures are not surprising.

They got out to a good start with a combination of early mover advantage and essentially being extra-diligent about each car to roll off the assembly line, but it is now catching up to them and I wouldn't own any Tesla car, just on quality control basics alone.

[Brian Swartz]

EVs continuing to stagnate, hybrid sales increasing in both the US and Europe (China is doing better on EVs notably). Theorized culprits are the usual apparently; slow infrastructure development, many of the people who are interested in EVs already have them at this point (mostly in the wealthier income ranges), resale value has been poor which adds to their effective cost, etc.

[damnMikeBrown]

Originally Posted by stevew

Saw a new electric Escalade tonight and that thing was super sharp looking.

I’ve been closely following these.
I wasn’t aware that they were out in the wild yet!

You saw a unicorn!

Looking at it as a possible hockey parent transport.

[stevew]

It had Michigan plates. Probably an engineer at GM. I’ve seen a bunch of unicorn vehicles. Like I saw a Canoo at one point and also a Lordstown pickup. I’m not sure the electric Escalade is much bigger than an EV9

[Edward64]

Possible Nissan bankruptcy in the news past couple days.

No surprise, they've been struggling for years and there's something obviously wrong. My guess is future of the Z is on shaky ground, not a volume seller (e.g. I have yet to see a Z on the road).

FWIW, the grill on the original doesn't look too bad at an angle. But facing it, it's an eyesore. Nismo version with the reworked front grill looks much better. That's what they should have gone with originally.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Edward64

In addition to the robotaxi announcement, there were a couple articles about how Elon is cancelling the < $30k cheaper Teslas.

That's not confirmed yet, I'd put that under speculation right now, and really hope that's not true.

Happy to be wrong!

Look like there will be a Model Q $30k a coming soon (assuming Trump keeps, and the Model Q is eligible, for the tax credit)

A new report from Deutsche Bank suggests that a sub-$30,000 Tesla unofficially nicknamed "Model Q" is on the way. According to the report, the $30,000 figure includes the current $7500 tax credit promised in the Inflation Reduction Act.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Possible Nissan bankruptcy in the news past couple days.

I like the idea of some sort of merger but am concerned that Nissan/Mitsubishi will drag down/distract Honda. I can see this new merger be the asian version of Stellantis.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/17/japa...ger-talks.html

Honda and Nissan are considering operating under a holding company, and soon will sign a memorandum of understanding, according to the report. They also look to eventually bring Mitsubishi Motors, in which Nissan is the top shareholder with a 24% stake, under the holding company.